Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jan 11, 2026
Dynamic Visual Tests to Identify and Quantify Visual Damage and Repair Following Demyelination in Optic Neuritis Patients
Published on: April 14, 2014
Lessons Learned: Quality Analysis of Optical Coherence Tomography in Neuromyelitis Optica.
Hadi Salih1,2, Sara Samadzadeh1,2,3,4, Charlotte Bereuter1,2
1Experimental and Clinical Research Center, Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine and Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
Low-quality Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) scans are common in neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD), especially in visually impaired eyes. Standardized OCT practices are needed for accurate neuroaxonal visual pathway assessment.
Area of Science:
- Ophthalmology
- Neuro-ophthalmology
- Medical Imaging
Background:
- Optical coherence tomography (OCT) provides crucial measurements of the neuroaxonal visual pathway.
- Acquiring high-quality OCT scans is challenging in patients with severe visual impairment, common in neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders (NMOSD).
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess OCT scan quality in real-world data from the international Collaborative Retrospective Study on Retinal OCT in Neuromyelitis Optica (CROCTINO).
Main Methods:
- Evaluated peripapillary and macular OCT scans from 539 individuals with NMOSD using Heidelberg, Zeiss, and Topcon devices.
- Applied OSCAR-IB criteria for quality assessment, classifying eyes based on visual impairment (1.0 logMAR cut-off).
- Compared quality outcomes between groups using Chi-square tests.
Main Results:
- 3075 OCT scans were analyzed; 14.5% peripapillary and 20.1% macular scans were rejected due to quality issues (p < 0.001).
- Rejection rates were significantly higher in severely visually impaired eyes (28.9% peripapillary, 41.6% macular) compared to those without severe impairment (10.7% and 14.6%, respectively; p < 0.001).
Conclusions:
- Approximately 1 in 6 OCT scans were rejected due to poor quality, with higher rates in eyes experiencing severe visual impairment.
- Scan quality issues can significantly bias quantitative OCT outcomes and artificial intelligence analyses.
- There is a critical need for standardized OCT acquisition protocols tailored for NMOSD and similar conditions with severe visual impairment.
